Winter's Cleanse

I can barely remember a winter like this one - for many it's been tough, cold, and challenging.  It's never easy shoveling snow, slipping and sliding on sidewalks and parking lots, or bundling up to brave the frigid temperatures. Fighting flu symptoms and head colds.  Our family has had our own challenges of trying to get by this winter.  Something went amiss with our well so we have had to carry water buckets up to the barn--trudging through the deep, deep snow.  We just haven't had the money to get it fixed and our electricity bills are staring us in the face--higher and higher they climb with no relief in sight.  Yes, it has been a challenging winter out on the prairie.  As we go up to the barn night after night, I try to remind myself as I tell Brinna that the pioneers so long ago had the same difficulties.  They, however, didn't have electric buckets for their horses or lights in their barns. At least we have those small comforts.

 

Despite all these things, I'm not one to normally complain about my circumstances.  Instead, I always try to seek after what I can learn through the circumstances or get a glimpse of God's work and wonder.  It's no different through this current snow storm.  I recently read another blog post from People of the Second Chance that spoke to the fact that snow covers up all the dirty things in life, but it's a false cover because the rotting leaves and dirt below, left over from the damp fall, are still there. Much like the rotting bits of sin in our lives, we can't cover it up with niceties and pretensions.  Only a thorough cleansing from the one true God can cleanse us from our sin.  What a marvelous thought - I'm still ruminating over that imagine of covering up my sin, wondering what sin I'm trying to cover up with my positive attitude or my smiling exterior.

I LOVE snow - even struggling through this overwhelming Snowmagedon of 2014, I still LOVE it.  It's beauty, it's purity, it's silent majesty all enchant me.  It covers our world with a chill - a frosty and creative reminder of the One True Artist we serve.

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11 NIV)

Two are better than one . . .

The following passage from Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 was chosen by my husband and I some 32 years ago to represent how we felt about our life together. My husband designed the cover for our wedding program featuring a cross and the three strands of rope representing our eternal bond with each other and God.

"Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart."

As I made my usual late night trek back from the horse barn, crunching in the snow and slip sliding around, I was reminded of many scenes of two romping through the prairie snow, slipping and sliding, falling, and tumbling, I thought of this passage and the importance of lifting one another up. We all slip and slide around, sometimes falling on our faces. But, what if we fall and there is no one to pick us up, to bandage our wounds, to carry us inside to the warmth of a fire? What if?

"The steps of a man are established by the Lord; And He delights in his way. When he falls, he shall not be hurled headlong; because the Lord is the One who holds his hand." Ps. 37:23, 24

For, it is better that we go through life with a companion—someone to lift us up when we fall, someone to work alongside us in faith, someone to keep us warm, and someone to strengthen us, someone to encourage and love us. Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.

I'm reminded of the following quote from the movie Shall We Dance:

“We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things, all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed because I will be your witness.'"

While I don't agree with minimizing the value of one life, this quote does convey the importance of caring for another individual and the importance of keeping a promise to another human being—being faithful and being there through the good times as well as the bad – every day, all the time, even when it hurts.

What if we have no one to lift us up? God designed us to share life together—to be there for another. We need one another's love and care so desperately, especially in this mixed-up and crazy world. Don't let another day go by without being there for someone, without opening yourself up to the possibility of companionship—mutual respect, honor and love. And, be an example of respect and honor to someone whom God has brought into your life.

Be the heart.

Lenten Experiment - Day 4

The winter of 2011-2012 has been unusual throughout the world. Extreme weather patterns seem to the be the norm. Whether it is the excessive cold and snows in Europe or the parching dryness we have experienced here in Kansas and throughout the upper Midwest. Even into Canada snowfalls have been practically non-existant. And while most of the adult population are thankful for the lack of snow, I'm not in that majority.

Even at my advanced age, I still revel in the frigid winds and marvel at the wonder of billions of microscopic ice crystals clinging together in the web called "snow." It really is amazing to me to watch a fluffy snowfall and to hear its crunch beneath my feet as I walk out into the prairie grasses.

And, that's what I have missed this winter--the wonder and beauty of a world wrapped in white - a world pure and clean. The chill of air filled with ice crystals refreshing, cleansing the earth.

And then I have to step back today and remember the words of Isaiah the prophet:

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." (Is 55:8-10 (NASB))

Sometimes I get ahead of myself before I realize that God's thoughts and ways are higher than mine - His purposes and plans are true--He knows when the earth needs rain and snow. He waters the earth in His time, not mine. And, while I miss the snow this winter, I'm learning patience.

Well, it's not yet March - there is still hope for some snow before the spring blooms. Ever hopeful, ever watchful - I'll sit out here on the prairie and wait on the snow; wait on God to accomplish His desires. His timing is perfect.

PRAIRIE SNOWY WONDERS

Snow is wondrous! Despite the fact that I'm a bit "over the hill," I still rejoice in the snowy wonderland we call winter. Most folks my age are complainin' about the cold and how it does havoc on the aches and pains of their youth.




I, on the other hand, revel in Jack Frost's world. Icicles, crunchy goodness underfoot, powder sugar snow, and then there's the brightness that lights up our world both day and night. The whiteness shines its sparkling face upward in stark contrast to the blackness of the night sky.



As the frosty blanket covers the landscape, it chills the air and somehow calms the winds that we experience so much here on the prairie. Now, I don't mean it totally negates the winds, but somehow it brings an uncanny peace; a shivery blessing of purity and silence all packaged neatly together.


What can we learn from the snow? As I ponder my routine snowy treks to the barn to care for my horses, I think on the deep breaths of frigid air that pierce the inner depths of my fragile lungs and then leaves me gasping for breath--reminding me I'm alive in God's kingdom. Watching that breath escape in visible smoke, I revel in the miracles that are my lungs—God-designed and remarkably functional.

I know it's probably an insignificant thing to think about, but there you have it. I ponder a lot of God's little details and then make them into huge lessons for myself.



It seems sometimes that I feel most alive in the winter because the frosty air and snowy roads stretch my capabilities - they challenge me to work harder at life. And, then I truly feel alive!




So, my advice - for what it's worth - Get yourself outside and into the cold. Take a snowy walk, lick an icicle, go sledding down a hill (wwwwwhhhheeeee!), breathe in & breathe out and watch the smoke rise, experience that awesome tingling feeling of frozen toes and fingers that come just before frostbite, and above all revel in the silence and listen to the voice of God in His snowy kingdom.